Stolen Moments
by eonsofmemories
Summary: This story will be about all those little moments that we live each day - either for us or for someone else. it's all about the moments. And it's also about love, of the selfless kind. MAYA-SHAWN-KATY. Rated T.


**Heylooo!**

**No no no. You see, the thing was that I had promised to myself that I wouldn't write a new story. And yet, here I am. Silly me. **

**So, I wanted to write this story for the longest time.. but until now all the characters and even the concept was a little fuzzy. I even thought of making this a non-GMW story, but then after watching the recent moments between Maya Shawn and Katy Hart - it obviously took me over.  
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**And here I am again..back with a really simple story.**

**A little something about the story:**

**This story will be about all those little moments that we live each day - either for us or for someone else. Each update will contain a moment or a series of moments (you know when writers like me get carried away) that I shall try to capture in my words. **

**This isn't _just_ a story. Like I said, it's all about the moments. And it's also about love, of the selfless kind.**

**I am rambling on and on I realise. So, here you go!**

****_Dedicated to all my lovely readers - yes _********_reading your comments (and occasionally PMs from a few) gives me my little moments too sometimes._****

****_AU. OOC. You've been warned. Just a note I'm not familiar with Boy Meets World really so don't know much about Angela or anything apart from the fact that she was Shawn's special someone in the past series. So please no flames! :) _****

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

**Silver Valley, Colorado  
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**4 years ago  
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The little girl was only hiding under the bed, playing hide-and-seek with her elder sister, when the ground shook and a muffled boom erupted through the silence. She shut her ears and huddled into the furthest corner of the bed as the glass windows of the bedroom shattered into a million tiny pieces. The sounds of falling debris surrounded her and then the smell of something burning drifted into the room. She didn't know what was happening; she was only five years old after all. Her blood curdled with fear as she heard a scream from the next room.

Shivering with fear, she shouted from the darkness beneath the bed, "Mum?"

There was no reply.

She heard another muffled explosion from the kitchen, followed by a loud cackling sound; as if something were on fire. "Mum! Dad! Dear sister! Sis!" She called out to her parents and sister, her body trembling with fright. She pushed against the dark wall, wondering why her parents weren't answering.

First, she saw the grey smoke billowing outside the door of the bedroom. And then, she saw the flames that started to lick the door, growing taller and taller with each passing second. She cried with fear as tears trickled down her cheeks, "Mum!"

The flames crept up the walls within seconds and smoke filled up the room. She shouted over and over for her mother, her voice losing its strength after every scream. Her tears dried up on her cheeks, but no one replied.

The intense heat exhausted her and the thick smoke made it difficult for her to breathe.

The last thing she remembered, before everything blacked out, was the sound of sirens and shouts of people, drifting in through the blazing window.

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><p>She knew she shouldn't have come here. She should have just refused taking up this assignment to cover the bomb blasts in Colorado when she was asked to. Yes, she had wanted to visit Colorado ever since she was a little girl. The rugged alpine landscapes, the snow-laden valleys and mountains speckled with dark green pine trees and of course, the thought of travelling through the rocky roads that wound in and out of the mountains had fascinated her to no end.<p>

But this wasn't the Colorado that she had dreamt about.

Tall, golden serpentine flames licked at the cluster of wooden houses that stood beside the pristine lake set amidst the mountains. She gripped the pen tight in her hand as she watched the grey smoke swirling into the sky, swallowing up its bright blue colour and leaving behind patches of darkness that never seemed to fade. Shouts of firemen and police officers could be heard over the loud cackling of the flames and the spurts of water that shot out of the hose pipes.

"Katy, can you please interrogate Officer Westerly?" An urgent female voice caused her to tear her gaze away from the blazing wooden houses in front and focus on the two police officers who were busy in a conversation beside her.

She only caught a few words of their conversation as she approached them. They said something about a terrorist gang leader, a politician and a planned bombing. The words were barely registering in her mind; she could only hear the sizzling of the charred roofs, the loud gushing of water from the pipes and the urgent shouting of firefighters who stepped through the blazing doors.

And then something happened; the shouts suddenly got louder. Blood drained from her face as she turned her gaze towards the burning house and spotted two firefighters exit the house; one of them with the limp body of a little girl in his arms.

Without another thought, Katy broke into a run towards the firefighters, her anxious eyes fixed on the ashen face of the little girl in the man's arms. "Is she alive?" She asked.

The firefighters nodded and took her towards an ambulance waiting in the distance. She held back one of them and asked, "Anyone else..."

Her breath caught in her throat when the firefighter shook his head and replied, "No ma'am. She's the only survivor."

Katy didn't know why she ignored the words of her colleague, who kept shouting furiously at her to focus on the job at hand. Instead, she followed the little girl in the ambulance, her hands holding the little girl's ash-covered hands in hers.

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><p>"She has no family left. Her family was killed in the blast. She was spared because she was the furthest from the site of the blast, hiding under the bed." She heard the police officer's quiet words as he spoke to the doctor in the distance.<p>

Katy didn't know what she was doing here at the hospital; she didn't even know the girl or her family. Perhaps it was her motherly instinct, lying dormant within her, that caused her to move towards the doctor.

She caught bits and pieces of the conversation as she walked towards them, "Neighbouring house blast...wooden houses... gas cylinders...fire..."

"Is she ok?" She asked in a monotonous voice.

The doctor nodded and asked, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"What's going to happen to her?" She turned towards the police officer.

His eyebrows creased at her sudden interest and he replied, "She'll probably live at an orphanage until we can find some foster parents for her."

"Orphanage?" Her voice sounded hollow, even to herself.

"Who are you?" He prodded her again.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "Katy Hart. I'm a journalist."

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><p>Katy didn't know why she waited by the little girl's side; the only thing that lingered on her mind was the fact that this little girl had no one left in this world. Just like her.<p>

And she knew what it was like.

"Mum." The low whisper made her jerk her face towards the little girl; her eyes were still clasped shut.

She reached out and gently caressed her hair and whispered, "Shh."

The girl's face creased with fear and her arm suddenly grasped Katy's as she cried out in her sleep, "Mum!"

That's when Katy leaned in to kiss the child's forehead and whispered, "Shh. I'm here. I'm here with you."

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><p>"All the formalities are complete." The man gathered the papers and asked, "Are you sure about this, Katy?"<p>

She barely heard the man's words as she spotted the little girl walking towards her. She wore a pale blue dress; long hair fell down to her waist like a velvety blonde curtain. Katy felt her heart rip into tiny pieces as the little girl lifted her tear-stained eyes towards her.

Katy kneeled down and held the little girl's trembling shoulders. "Hello." She said.

Perhaps there was something in Katy's touch that the little girl felt. Because the next minute, she threw her arms around her neck and whispered, "Mum."

The man smiled at her as he saw Katy pull the little girl into a warm motherly embrace. Before he left, he called out to Katy, "From today onwards, Maya is yours."

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><p><strong>Soo sorry if I made you cry! (Trust me it was hard to write)<strong>

**But anyway, this isn't going to be a sad story.. so I promise to make you smile from the very first chapter.**

**Do leave your comments if you have read this far. :)  
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